JOHANNESBURG - Veteran photographer Sam Nzima will be remembered by his colleagues and friends at a memorial service in Parktown on Thursday morning.

The icononic journalist died at a Mpumalanga hospital on Saturday. He was 83.

Nzima is best known for his photo of a dying young Hector Pieterson during the 1976 uprising.

He'll be laid to rest on Saturday in a special provincial funeral.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered the national flag be flown at half-mast in Mpumalanga during the ceremony.

Spokesperson Khusela Diko: "The president declared a special official funeral for individuals who have made a significant contribution to the life of our country. Mr Nzima was part of a generation of people who showed the brutality of apartheid, using his lens as a tool of struggle."